Sean
I agree, Silloth is in a different league to Formby
Duncan
That was a decent enough breeze on Monday. Bear in mind the plus 4 handicapper used a 7 iron to hit it stiff on the 120 yard 9th hole. Not sure about you but I used a 5 iron on the same hole to get it to the front of the green.
Reading over again the CG definitions that you posted, I’m still struggling to see how it can be rated so lowly.
6 - clearly way better than a 6, no need to discuss.
7 – well, all four of us travelled well over 100 miles to play it on Monday and were delighted with it so it passes that part of being a 7. As for the other criteria;
Soundly designed ? – not entirely sure what that means but I’d say yes
Interesting holes ? – yes, and then some.
Good course conditioning ? – yes, considering we are not really out of winter yet, it is in very good condition. Not only that but I’ve always loved the set up where it gives an infinite variety of recovery shots that are mostly playable.
Pretty setting ? – yes, some may have derogatory things to say about the town but the internal views on the course are terrific while the external views are mostly pretty scenic.
So it's at least a 7.
8 - "One of the very best courses in the region and worth a special trip to see" - let's firstly define region. In a UK context you would normally take that to mean Cumbria. From a US centric perspective that could mean anything from UK, to Europe, to the Rest of the World. Given the abundance of quality golf in this small island I suggest that we go on the basis of NE of England. Is Silloth one of the very best courses in the NE of England ?
I can't compare to Hoylake, Lytham etc since I haven't played them but I have played Formby which is a lovely course but Silloth is clearly a couple of notches above. I've also played all the Open rota courses in Scotland and I'd humbly suggest that Silloth could more than hold its own with them so likely to be one of the very best in NE England. On that basis it is at least an 8 IMO.
9 - "An outstanding course - certainly one of the best in the world - with no weaknesses" - this is where it gets a bit tricky. How many people have played enough of the acknowledged greats to make the assertion that it's "certainly one of the best in the world". I haven't but Tom has and he gave it a 6/7.
However it is certainly outstanding. I think I've played enough quality courses to state that. So, are there any weaknesses ?
Probably but I’m not sure what they are. The 10th is perhaps the least non-championship hole but is being non-championship really a bad thing ? Blind approach shots at 1st, 7th and 14th maybe ? Semi-blind shots at other holes. Are they really weaknesses ? I suppose that depends on your outlook. If you are a card carrying rater who has only played it once you will probably be judging it on whether it is a par 72, with 4 par 5’s and 4 par 3’s, holes in different directions and all that guff, then I suspect it will be judged a weakness. For those that aren’t judging the course by the standard textbook method and play the course on a regular basis then you’d probably think some of those holes are some of the better ones on the course.
Again however I come back to comparing Silloth to other higher ranked courses, courses where I see obvious weaknesses but that somehow these courses are judged as having none. The 9th at TOC springs to mind. What hole at Silloth is weaker than that ? None would be my answer but TOC is of course higher ranked. I can only come to the conclusion that Silloth is at least a 9.
10 – is it perfect ? No, the 16th green is rubbish.
Niall